


Summer's End

by enamis



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: ((((Not an abandoned work just on pause for a bit)))), Dadvid AU, David is a teacher, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Gwen is borderline homeless, Internal Conflict, Probably some angst, Shitty Childhood, Slice of Life, Slow Burn Romance, because im trash, but i'll try to keep it funny, post parents day, probably post whatever happens in season 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2018-12-23 12:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11989602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enamis/pseuds/enamis
Summary: Summer has gone and Camp Campbell is finally over. After packing the kids home David and Gwen return to pack up the campground before setting off their separate ways. Of course after finding out no one ever came to pick up Max, things get a bit tricky as two broke kids have to look after a broken one.[In which David struggles between his responsibility and his bleeding heart, and forgets you're not supposed to keep abandoned kids like lost puppies]





	1. Homeward Bound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a sort of break from ALL my other stuff, and I happened to somehow half-dream the entire plot so there's that to consider. Oh and point out any spelling errors if you see 'em!

 

 

“Now remember, kids, make sure you have all your things or else you’ll just have to get them when you come back next year!” David called out over the gaggle of campers shuffling around in front of the mess hall. He made sure to ignore the wave of panic sweeping over most of the kids as they hurriedly began to check their bags for anything they might’ve missed.

The Quartermaster was just about to come around with the bus to take the kids back to town where their parents and/or guardians were going to pick them up. Gwen was going to ride along just to make sure none of the kids got left in the bathroom like _last_ year, while David himself was going to start on taking everything down to clear the grounds.

Summer ending was always a somber feeling. Sure they still had two whole weeks of August left, but the little ones had to get ready for school, especially the ones who’d come from out of State. For David it always meant heart-wrenching goodbyes as all the little tykes he’d grown to love were leaving his life, the possibility of him ever seeing them again, a slim one, especially with Mister Campbell getting himself arrested by Ered’s lovely dads.

So he continued to stick around the group, patiently waiting for any of the kids to come say goodbye to him like he had done to them. Repeatedly.

While trying hard not to cry.

Very hard.

Again.

The rumbling and the dust cloud from the bus made the kids perk up and they began to exchange a scant few goodbyes as they were sure the moment they’d step off the bus their families were going to swoop in without another word. Nerris and Harrisn were exchanging final glares, Nurf was busy wringing out some last pocket change and Nikki was strangling the life out of Neil via a hug.

The latter was a little concerning. Not the strangling part, but the fact that Max wasn’t around to say goodbye to the two people that could have passed as his friends. David quickly looked around before noticing a familiar teal hoodie sitting a ways away by the now empty flagpole and made his way over there.

Max was sitting on the ground, his knees to his chest and his arms folded over them, his nose nuzzled into the crook of his elbow and a single ratty brown shoulder bag to his side. David made sure his approach was loud enough for the boy to hear, yet he didn’t even bother insulting him. How strange.

“Hey Max.” David said softly as he came to stop next to the boy.

“What do you want?” Max grumbled, his usual irritation very faint in his voice.

“I, uh,” David kneeled next to the boy forcing him to glance at the man. “I just wanted to say goodbye is all.” David had foregone his usual overly cheerful grin and settled for a soft smile. “I know you and I didn’t get along all that great, but I still loved having you here, Max. And I know, I know, ‘cut the dumb goodbyes’, and I will. I just wanted to say, I'm going to miss you. And I hope you’ll do great in the future, alright?”

Max blankly stared at him for a few seconds before muttering a barely audible ‘okay’ and burying his nose is his folded arms again, continuing his quest of staring at nothing.

“Well uhh…” David rubbed the back of his head, getting up. “Don’t miss the bus, alright kiddo?”

When he couldn’t coax anything more than another grumble of acknowledgement David returned to tending to the rest of the group. Soon enough the kids began shuffling into the bus, Gwen making sure to give them all a little camp pin that David had gotten for all of them out of pocket. With all ten settled in their seats, Max’s trio taking up the back of the bus, of course, David and Gwen said their final words, both legally obliged and genuine. With a final goodbye David stepped off the bus and waved them off as they disappeared in a cloud of dust.

He didn’t even realize he was crying again until he had to wipe all the wet from his face.

And now all the real work began. He started at the further ends of the camp, taking down all the equipment and cardboard structures that had accumulated over the summer. A good two hours passed with him carefully disassembling everything and taking it back to the mess hall were the Quartermaster could do… Quartermaster things. Just as he had finised taking down the first of the camper’s tents a dust cloud sped back to camp from the horizon.

Gwen looked much more disheveled than when she’d gotten on, yet for some reason she looked so much more relaxed. The Quartermaster hopped out the bus just after her, brushing past both counselors while mumbling about something under his breath.

“Gwen, I just wanted to thank you again to taking the kids to town.” David spoke while the woman in question was busy stretching, all her joints making horrifying popping noises. “God knows I probably wouldn’t have been able to hand them back after spending all this time together.”

“Yeah, sure. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting, to be honest.” They began walking towards the tents, both set on finishing the clean-and-pack-up as fast as possible.

“How bad were you expecting?” David cautiously asked.

“Lot more torches, lot more police.” Gwen seemed rather nonchalant about it. “The FBI dads gave me box of chocolates. Still not sure if they were trying to bribe me to shut up or start talking.”

“Ah…” David fidgeted with his hands. “Well I’d rather not dwell on _that_ part. I still can't believe Mister Campbell is gone.”

“I can.” Gwen muttered. After a moment of thought she spoke again. “Oh, and we also forgot about Jermy.”

They both froze in their tracks. David gently placed his hands on Gwen’s shoulder and stared into her eyes.

“Everyone would like to forget about Jermy.”

They exchange a nod before returning to whatever they were doing. Which was walking. They picked a tent at random and checked that no stuff was left inside before starting to take it apart.

“I gotta say, it’s been… a weird summer.” Gwen spoke up, while undoing the pegs of the tent.

“I’ll say.” David cheerfully called back from the other side. At least he got to spend a little more time out in the woods with Gwen, if nothing else.

“No, like, the weirdest, wildest fucking summer of my life.” The woman stood up, her head poking over the half-collapse structure. “Seriously, what the fuck were half the things that even happened? I'm still not sure if I dreamt the platypus or not.”

“Yeah…” David solemnly replied.

“I think I'm gonna miss it…”

“Yea-wait what?” The man instantly perked up, only to see the woman smiling, which was as rare as they came.

“It’s been kinda fun. I'm also going to miss having a mildly stable income.”

“Oh.” David slumped his shoulders. “So… what are you going to do now?”

“I have absolutely no idea.” Whatever happiness there might’ve been a second ago evaporated. “I mean I guess I’ll keep trying to get a job but that hasn’t worked so far. If shit hits the fan too hard I guess I’ll just have to move back with my parents… so that’ll be fun…”

They finished disassembling the next two tents in silence before carrying them back. While David was busy arranging the equipment in neat piles Gwen went to grab her chocolates from the bus only to come back empty-handed.

“That son of a bitch!” She kicked the doorframe in frustration.

“Who? What?”

“I don’t know yet, but whoever’s the piece of shit that took my sweets from me is getting their ass kicked!” Gwen yelled. David ushered her outside before she could break a toe on the door.

“Now, now, Gwen, I’m sure we can find it. Or maybe the Quartermaster thought those were for him and we can just ask him back.”

“Eugh, if it’s the Quartermaster that got his claw in them, I won't even want ‘em back.” Gwen pouted, pushed forward along the path by David. They came around to one of the tents furthest out. It had been Max’s and Neil’s. David wondered what strange things, if anything, the boys (and possibly Nikki who seemed to reside there from time to time) had left behind. That or possibly some elaborate prank to be pulled on David when he came to clean everything up. As a sort of final, pardon the language, ‘screw you’ Max had left for him.

Only one way to find out.

David stepped inside, Gwen following on his heels.

Only for the three occupants of the structure to freeze in place.

  
  


**_“MAX?!_ ** ”

_“MY CHOCOLATE!”_

“!!!”

Max gave a high-pitched squeak of surprise dropping the huge box of chocolate he was eating, all the pieces scattering through the dirt. He gulped.

  
  
  
  



	2. Stowaway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, I never expected people to beg me to continue. What a strange feeling, thank you all! And I will! Hopefully. Maybe once a week? One in two? No promises, the inspiration is a fickle beast. (And lots of words are hard)  
> This one turned out a bit short but ya' gotta do some establishing, what can I say. Three will be twice the size so hold your pants, And I'll probably have to drop it a bit sooner than I originally intended. We'll also be looking closer at David's slightly off reasoning from this chapter so fun times all around!

 

“Uhh…” Max stared at his two counselors in silent shock. Whatever inkling of a plan he might’ve had had just gone out the metaphorical window. Because had there been an actual window in the tent he’d be the one going through it.

“You _thief!_ ” Gwen snarled. That got David to snap back to his senses.

“Max! Oh my goodness, what are you doing here!?” He began nervously hopping in place. “Oh goodness, oh goodness, but I saw you in the bus when everyone left?! What are you doing here, where are your parents, are they here, are they not? _How did you even get back here?!_ ”

The boy let out an angry snort before picking up a muddy piece of chocolate and nailing David in the side of the head with one shot, thankfully making him shut up for two seconds.

“ _I told you!_ My parents never cared about this shit! What made you think they’d even bother picking me up?!” He yelled. “They probably forgot they even had a kid over the summer!”

David stopped his bouncing and exchanged a look with Gwen.

“I… Max… I'm so sorry but… we both know you can't stay here…” The man forced his nerves to steady and his head to go into responsibility-mode. “Look, come along and we’ll go find your file. I'm sure we can get someone to come get you home, alright?”

Max stared at him in silence for several seconds before bursting to life and making a break for it in the gap between the two adults. David, to his credit, had readied for something like that and was quick to the draw, grabbing Max by his hood as he was blazing past and yanking the boy backwards, enough to get a strong grip on his wrist.

Max let out another snarl and tried to wiggle his hand free, but David’s grip was that of iron. Even when Max tried to bite him he managed to hold the boy off and began dragging him out of the tent, leaving Gwen by herself to mourn her ruined snacks. The two quickly made their way to the main office, Max struggling less and less the closer they got. David knew Max’s file had been as barebones as they got, but he swore he’d seen at least _A_ phone number. Still, it didn’t help with that strange ache growing somewhere deep in his chest.

They stepped inside the office and David instantly went for the applications drawers, only to find them empty. He let out a baffled ‘huh?’ and went for the other drawer. Also empty. That was when the inklings of panic began to set in and he began tearing up the office trying to find any scrap of paperwork he knew they had had up until this morning.

Meanwhile Max was simply meandering about as it hadn’t taken him long to realize the futility of the situation. Though it still left him questioning what any of the adults were going to do with him in the very near future. He was so preoccupied by his musing he almost didn’t notice the strange glow coming from one of the back windows. Curiosity piqued, he climbed up on the desk chair closest to the wall and peered out.

“Uhh… David?”

“N-not now Max. I-I-I just don’t understand, where did it all go? It was here when we were looking for the c-contracts…” He muttered more to himself than anything. He ignored the light tug on his clothes. Then the stronger pulling. Then it took Max nearly pantsing him to get David to pay attention to what the boy was pointing at though the window. A strange, shimmering, orange glow.

“Oh crud.”

David’s stomach dropped. He grabbed Max once again and rushed outside. Just around the back of the office was a small field, in the middle of it a huge pyre, the Quartermaster standing inches from the blaze, busy pouring in another boxful of what looked suspiciously like the missing paperwork.

“ _Wha-_ ” David’s brain threw up a momentary error, coming back to its senses just as the Quartermaster lifted up what looked like a good handful of camper forms. David wasted no time throwing himself at the groundskeeper, pleading gibberish.

The Quartermaster simply sidestepped the charge, making David skid to a stop as to not singe his eyebrows off in the large fire. Before he could recover he got a hook through the nape of his shirt, effortlessly lifting him off the ground and tossing him aside like a lanky doll.

David hit the ground hard, getting a good bit of wind knocked out of him. As he cracked open his eyes he saw the Quartermaster standing over him menacingly, the light from the fire behind him casting deep shadows across his wrinkly face. David gulped, kicking against the ground and scrambling a good few paces backwards. As he did so his eyes were drawn to a stack of papers held by the old man before getting tossed over his shoulder and evaporating in the blaze in an instant. David went limp, letting out a throaty noise that sounded like defeat.

“Huh, I don’t think I've even seen you move that fast.” Max observed, leaning over David’s crumpled form. Before the man could respond the two heard hurried footsteps approaching.

“I saw smoke! What's on fi- _HOLY FUCK!_ ” Gwen stopped mid-step and stared slackjawed at the fire, an empty plastic bucket in hand.

“You dun get fires like these anymore.” The Quartermaster muttered, emptying a half can of gas into the fire, seemingly oblivious to the pure heat pouring over him.

“Wha-huh-how-why? _WHY?_ ” David regained his voice, dragging himself and Max away from the strangely self-contained miniature possible-natural-disaster.

“Campbll’ said ta’ burn ta’ evidence.” The Quartermaster replied in a matter of fact tone.

“I thought he was in Super-Guantanamo…?” Gwen asked.

“He is.”

“Then how…?”

“Dun’ ask questions ya don’t want answers to, girlie.” The old man hung another empty canister on his hook and walked away like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

The three watched him go before returning to staring at the pyre, all in different states of shock. The air reeked of gasoline and random bits of ash settled down on their clothes every so often. David slowly turned to face Max who seemed to almost be enjoying the fire.

“Max. Please tell me you know your parents’ phone number?”

“No fucking clue.”

“Address? I’ll drive you home if I have to.”

“I don’t even know what state we’re in.”

David slowly turned back to the fire and covered his face with his hands.

 

This was…

 

This was not what he had in mind for the rest of his summer.

  



	3. Arrangements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh, I think I might be getting my old writing style back after an unfortunate incident involving an experimental 'raw' piece where all my cohesion and ability to write like a normal human being went out the window. And hey, I did promise a big chapter! And remember to point out any errors or weird tenses, the dyslexia kicks in HARD when I'm tired.

 

Yesterday had been…

 

A day.

 

Yes, it was definitely a day.

 

David still wasn’t sure _what_ kind of day, but a day nonetheless.

 

And today was also a day. Hopefully a better one.

 

Not that the day before had been bad.

 

…

 

Oh, who was he _kidding_ , this was AWFUL.

All his kids were probably happily home already, all except one. David knew Max’s family life might not have been great, but it was still no excuse for him to stay here all by his lonesome and so far from the place he knew as home. Not that Max had been very cooperative in the effort to get himself back where he came from. David still wasn’t entirely convinced Max didn’t know where he lived, but the longer they remained at Camp the more he was beginning to believe him.

David was also vehemently aware of the two sides of him struggling over the decision to what to do with the boy. As a responsible adult and camp counselor David knew he had to do everything in his power to return Max to his family. And yet… even just faintly knowing of the nothingness he would be shipping his little camper back to…

No. He had to be dutiful, no matter how much it hurt. The last thing anyone needed was to be accused of kidnapping, as unlikely as it was. David especially didn’t want to drag Gwen down with him if things suddenly turned bad, the poor girl had already been through enough.

Still, in practice none of that was nearly as easy as it sounded. And at the given moment David had far too many little things to wrap up before he could tackle the bigger picture, whatever it might be.

So he continued to lay there, at the crack of dawn, soft sunlight pooling through the gap in the old, moth-chewed curtains. Max had slept in David’s bed at the counselor cabin he shared with Gwen, while David himself had slept on the ground in nothing but a sleeping bag. He honestly preferred plain dirt over a wooden floor, the former was always so much softer.

Yesterday, after the fire _incident_ had been taken care of David and Gwen had had no other choice but to return to their work of clearing the grounds. Max had hung around by them, not helping and occasionally quipping the entire time. Despite that, he had seemed rather content simply being at camp, a stark contrast to his usual behavior, which was rather worrying for David.

Aside from that the day had been a simple affair and their tasks had been finished by sundown. Three mysterious plates of food had found themselves at the counselors’ cabin, still warm, seemingly waiting for the trio’s return. Dinner was quiet with the sole exception of David trying to coax some information out of Max, with the same, unsurprising results. Afterwards he and Gwen packed up their own belongings for an easy move tomorrow morning while Max blankly stared at the evening programming on their tiny TV. When it got sufficiently late the three got themselves situated and headed off to sleep.

Which finally lead to today.

David stretched, cracking his joints as he did. He sat up, looking over to the two beds on the opposite corners of the cabin. Gwen was half-hidden behind a paper-mache screen but David could hear her ever so faintly snoring. Max on the other hand had curled into an unrecognizable ball of blankets with a tuft of black hair and a single bare foot sticking out two different ends.

David quietly slipped out his sleeping bag and right out the door, still in his pajamas that were nothing more than an old t-shirt and sweatpants that were _far_ too short on him. With the door firmly closed behind him he took a deep breath of cool, fresh morning air and smiled. He was going to miss this.

What followed was his usual barefoot morning routine of a quick lap around the campgrounds and some simple exercises to stay in shape, humming to himself all the while. By the time he made it back the sun had come up a good ways and he could already hear faint commotion coming from inside the cabin. He paused, hand resting on the door handle. He took a deep breath and stepped inside.

_“ Goooooood morning campers!_ ”

“Goddamnit, David.” Gwen said in an exasperated tone.

“Yeah, seriously, I thought you were finally done with that shit.” Max chimed in, still swaddled in blankets atop David’s bed.

“Oh come now, it’s the last day were going to be spending here for the rest of the year, might as well enjoy it!” David cheerfully gestured after closing the door behind him and wiping off his dirty feet on the doormat.

“Clearly you're the only one ever enjoying this.” Max grumbled.

David wasn’t quick enough to come up with a retort so he simply let it go after a few seconds. He picked up today’s outfit from his pile of belongings and slipped behind another strategically placed paper screen to change. When he stepped out he was no longer wearing his well-worn counselor getup but rather more ‘civilian’ clothes as he’d come to call them. His outfit consisted of worn jeans and a simple warm green-gray long-sleeved shirt, rolled up to his elbows, and a thick, red flannel vest over top.

Gwen had also put on her ‘civilian’ outfit which consisted of her pulling a purple hoodie over her usual clothes. She was in the process of divvying up some instant-oatmeal into three bowls. David handed Max the fullest one and sat on the floor by the boy’s bed as they all scarfed down their food. He was honestly amazed neither of his companions had anything snarky to say about his change in outfit, but the day was young after all.

After rinsing off the kitchenware and tidying up the beds the last bit of tedious packing was to be done. It took a good half hour for them to stick everything in the car since they had to make sure Max had somewhere to sit, something that hadn’t exactly been an issue coming here at the start of the season.

 

“Well, guess that’s that then.” David slammed the trunk closed and exhaled.

**_“_** **_FINALLY.”_   **Max lifted his head from his position of being facedown in the grass, groaning in bored-noyance the entire time.

“Yes, yes, finally. I’ll go drop off the keys and we can leave for town.” And David left to do just that. It took a smidge of trial and error until he found the Quartermaster doing some packing of his own. The young man stood in the doorway to the Mess Hall, shifting in place before loudly clearing his throat.

“Oh. Leavin’?” The Quartermaster perked up.

_“ Yessiree~ ”_

“Hmph. No hard feelins’ ‘bout the fire.” David wasn’t entirely sure if that was a question.

“Uhh… sure?” What was done was done, after all. “Well then. Until next summer then, Quartermaster, sir!” He handed over both his and Gwen’s set of keys before saluting Campbell’s signature salute. The Quartermaster stared at him before vaguely gestured something with his hook. Close enough. The two parted ways and the moment David stepped out of the building he got honked at, making him jump.

“Move your ass!” Gwen called from the driver’s seat and kept honking until David was beside her in the passenger seat.

“Now let’s-! What was that thing they say? _‘Let’s blow this popsicle stand’_? Something like that?” Gwen mused.

“No one knows what you're talking about!” Max called from the back seat. The woman harrumphed and floored the accelerator.

 

It was noon by the time they made it to David’s residence, a tiny, crummy, two bedroom house just on the edge of the woods on the other end of Sleepy Peak. There was no car on the curb so David guessed his roommate was out at the moment, which wasn’t a bad thing since it gave him ample time to come up with an explanation for why there was suddenly a child.

The front door took a few tries to unlock and David had to kick it just to get it to swing open, much to amusement of his two companions. Inside was a plain faded, pale-green room with a small kitchen against the far wall with a half-glass door showing the woods behind the house and a worn couch and two tables by the front door, with three closed doors to the left and right. David took deep breath of the musty air and dropped his first handful of belongings just by the entrance before returning to the car.

“Kinda’ looks like no one’s been here for a while.” Gwen peered inside, just after him.

“Oh, that’s not unusual, John has his friends stay in my room over the summer and sometimes he has his hunting buddies drag him off for a while. I can't say I really understand the enjoyment of… _that_ but I'm not one to judge. I'm having a lovely summer at Camp and he can have his.”

“That’s… strangely understanding of you.” Gwen sounded genuinely surprised.

“Well, aside from the deer blood in freezer and the fact that my bedroom smells like cigarettes, I would like to think so!” David cheerfully replied while trying to yank the ancient TV from the trunk. “Gwen, can you do me a solid and crank open the windows for me?”

“Sure.” She took a moment to take in the place as she did so. There were pillows on the couch, some David-y posters on the walls and empty flowerpots on the windowsills. It felt as the place, even in its uninhabited state, gave just the faintest homely vibe. “You know, when you said you had a house I was expecting a shack in the woods, not an _actual_ , functional house.”

“Well, it’s not _technically_ mine, since I rent. But I do love it, especially since the back porch leads right into the woods!”

_“ You have a porch? ”_

David pointed to the glass door with the head of his guitar before laying it on the couch, almost smacking Max in the head who was busy trying to not so stealthily dig up David’s smartphone.

“Yeash, never thought you’d be living like a fucking king, over here.” Gwen stepped outside and stopped. “David are you aware your porch is three floorboards crapily nailed together?”

“Still counting it!”

She gave a single ‘hah’ in response.

The two returned to a back-and-forth about and rent and the luck of landing a home like this among other useless things that were boring Max to tears. He gave up his quest for technology and sauntered over to the fridge. When he found a single can of tomato soup he was tempted to make a point with it, but David would probably make him clean it up so maybe that was a no-go.

Next thing he did was check one of the side doors that lead to a tiny bathroom. Well, bad indoor plumbing was better than no indoor plumbing. David almost tripped over the boy when he was making his way to mysterious door two. David made an attempt to get Max to help but stopped when the kid in question simply walked past him.

Before Max could step into one of the bedrooms he noticed a piece of paper taped to the door and snatched it down. The handwriting was frilly cursive but when Max puzzled out what was written a tiny grin wormed its way onto his face. Now _this_ could be interesting.

“ _HAH._ Hey David, I think your roommate just dumped you harder than Bonquisha.”

David made a noise that could have been mistaken for a kicked puppy until the gravity of the words set in and he beelined it for Max and grabbed the paper from his hand. He quickly scanned the note in his roomie’s unmistakable handwriting. He muttered bits out loud like _‘paid my part of the rent’ ‘sorry to ditch you but stuff happened’ ‘hope you're not too mad’_ and _‘good luck!’_.

 

David had to take a _veeeeeeery_ deep breath as he slowly folded up the note and stuffed it in his pocket. There was a pause and for a moment even Max wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

“This is fine.” Another deep breath. “I can work with this. No hard feelings!”

And he was off, leaving Max standing there in mute disappointment. The boy watched him in a mix of befuddlement and frustration while he continued running back and forth with his belongings. And soon enough the mad packing rush of the last two days was over.

 

“Guess that that, then?” Gwen asked, leaning in the open doorway.

“Guess it is…” David muttered, rubbing his wrist before turning to Gwen and invitingly holding out his hands.

“Oh fine.” She half-smiled and walked into the hug that turned into a very crushing bear hug after just few seconds.

“I'm going to miss you…”

“Are you crying again?”

“… no.”

Gwen barely managed to wedge her hand between the two of them and break free of the deathgrip of friendship, pushing David a good arm’s length away from herself. To his credit he was trying _very_ hard to not cry again.

“Hey come on, David, barring any major disaster we’re probably gonna see each other around town.” She affectionately patted him on the chest.

“I know. It’s just in case.” He was trying to nonchalantly wipe his eyes. “I hope you succeed in everything you try, Gwen, and find your place in the world, whatever you think it might be.”

“Thanks, camp-man.” She lightly flicked him on the forehead in an attempt to stop the waterworks, with little results. Gwen turned to stare directly at Max who was meandering about by the door, _definitely not_ waiting to say his own goodbyes. She got down on her knees, forcing the boy to meet her eye, the ghost of affection passing over him.

“And Max? Don’t go driving each other too insane, alright?” She ruffled his hair, making it stick up even worse.

“Oh please, it’s all a matter of which one of us cracks first.” Max mumbled, but his heart wasn’t in it.

“Hey, if you say so.” Gwen said, standing up. She gave a final few waves and walked to the car before quickly driving off. Even after she’d been long gone David remained standing in his open doorway, badly holding back tears and waving.

“Geez David, quit being such a pussy.”

“Well maybe you should quit being rude.” He got a bit snippy. Enough to come to some semblance of sense and finally close the door.

“Nice comeback, did you pick it off a kindergartener?”

“Alright enough, Max. We need to get you situated.”

“Why, if you're just going to ship me off?”

David paused.

It was simple question, yet for some reason it felt so loaded. That _was_ the goal, after all, even if he had to put in much more effort than imagined. Still…

Maybe he was just overthinking all of this? The day wasn’t even halfway done and yet he already felt so exhausted.

“Well if you’re so against staying, I won't bother with finding you lunch and we can go right away.”

“Uh, where exactly?”

“The police, obviously. I'm sure they can figure out where you came from.”

“Oh…” Max sounded almost… disappointed? David didn’t have the energy to look too deeply into that particular comment. He found his phone and wallet and made sure Max had good walking shoes and began heading in the direction of town.

“You know you could have just had Gwen drive us there.” Max spoke up before they were even two houses over.

“I'm sure she had important things of her own to do, Max, I didn’t want to impose. Besides! A walk will be good for you!”

Max didn’t bother replying, only kicking a rock towards David. It was a brisk twenty minute walk and soon the sparse private homes shrouded in trees turned to shops and apartments, and much to Max’s surprise, regular people walking about.

“Since when was this place so… normal? It was a shithole last time I saw it.”

“You mean when you and your friends decided to sneak along on my vacation day?” Max gave him a flat look. “Sleepy Peak is great town, albeit spread a bit thin through the woods. You just happened to see the not great parts of it.”

 

David only noticed he was holding Max’s hand when he let it go to walk up the stone steps to the tiny police station they had in town. He’d been here plenty of times, mostly due to the assortment of accidents that happened in Camp. Usually because David had to fill in for Mister Campbell who always seemed to have ‘important business’ just as something requiring his presence occurred.

The inside of the building was plain, with pale walls and wooden paneling and floors. Right near the entrance there sat a young, bored looking blonde woman behind a desk holding a computer the size of a microwave. She neither flinched nor looked up when David loudly cleared his throat right in front of her.

“Uh… excuse me?”

“Whaddaya’ want.”

“May I speak with Sheriff Sal?” The old man might not have liked David nor Campbell much, but they’d made a passable work relationship over the years. If nothing else, he was someone familiar David could always come to with things far above his own jurisdiction.

“Oh he doesn’t work here anymore.”

“What.”

“Yeah, hold on, are you from, like, a summer camp or something? Cuz’ he left something for some guy from some summer camp, or something.”

“I am… going to take a wild guess and say that probably for me, then.”

“Okay cool.” She cleared her throat while pulling out a large hand-written letter and proceeded to read the entire message in perfect, unflinching monotone. “ _‘This fucking camp and their fucking kids and that fucking Campbell and the fucking FBI sweet baby Jesus fuck that fucking camp and all those fucking campers and the fucking counselors and the entire fucking lake fuck this I quit I'm fucking done I'm not dealing with the fucking feds fuck this fucking county I moving to fucking Florida I quit. Fuck all of you.’_ Signed Sal’ _._ ”

 

When the woman was done she put the letter aside and returned to reading her magazine like nothing out of the ordinary happened while David stared ahead in stony silence. Granted… He probably should have expected his boss’s arrest to make a few waves but not quite like this. Something on the woman’s desk beeped.

“The new sheriff will see you now.”

Determined to ignore the last two minutes of his life David ushered Max towards the office while the boy was trying to contain his laughter. He dragged his ward through the door and motioned Max to stand next to him so he could at least do a polite introduction. Though judging by the stern look in the eyes of the new sheriff this wasn’t going be as easy as he had hoped. David took a deep breath.

“Uhh, alright then… So do missing children work like the Lost and Found or…?”

 

 

 

“Well, I suppose that could have gone better…” David said as he set down a takeout box of chicken fried rice in front of Max and a mystery soup for himself. He wasn’t one to eat out often, especially the strange Asian restaurant across the road from the pizza place at the end of the road, but it felt appropriate to at least treat Max to some restaurant food, especially since he had nothing at home anyway.

The talk with the police had been… passable. It was somewhat challenging explaining the circumstances that lead to Max being in this situation, and Campbell’s suddenly discovered illegality didn’t exactly help matters, but the sheriff promised he’d look into it. And that sentence meant ‘get lost and come back in a week’. Which David was surprisingly fine with. Partly because he felt much less nervous about harboring the kid for however long it took. And partly because, he told himself, it gave Max enough time to come clean with his address. Because what child honestly didn’t know where they lived? But there was also that little corner in his mind telling him to-

No. Stop that.

 

He was responsible.

 

He was _going to be_ responsible.

 

Everything was _fine._

 

Wait, why was Max not busy insulting him over something?

David made a noise, forcing the boy to look up from his meal.

“You know, Max, you been much more quiet than usual.” It was an observation. A blindingly obvious one that horribly masked David’s true intent with the question.

“I guess.” Max absentmindedly poked at his food with a chopstick.

“Is something… oh what am I saying, of course everything is wrong.” David almost physically deflated. Why was his head making everything so overcomplicated? There was a positive to this. Several, in fact, he just had to dig a little bit… “But don’t worry too much about it. I'm going to make everything better, just you wait! I'm going to fix everything!”

“Of course you are.”

“Hey now, this won't be so bad. Just think of it as an extra few days at Camp!” David cheerfully clapped his hands together.

Something in Max’s mind clicked.

 

“…I'm starting to regret everything that ever led me up to this moment.”

 

 


	4. Schooled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blegh, I've been both sick and creatively constipated for a week so i had to force this chapter together just to get it over with. Apologies if its not quite up to par of my usual stuff.

 

It was Monday, day three of Max.

 

 _“ Rise and shine camper!_ ” David called into the room the moment he opened the door, only to instantly get smacked in the face with a flying pillow. “I’ll take that as you being awake!”

“Fucking kill me.” Max grumbled slinking deeper into the comforter until he heard the door close and risked a peek. He let out a frustrated sigh and untangled his limbs from the blanket and splayed himself across the mattress, blankly staring at the crack across the ceiling.

David had given Max his roommate’s old room since it was vacant at the moment and David didn’t have the time to start looking for a replacement. It was a bit bigger than David’s own room and the bed wasn’t a _fucking bunk bed_ , something Max wasn’t going to let go of anytime soon. For the sake of David’s dignity at lest he slept on the bottom bunk, not that it mattered much to Max in the game of ripping into his… roommate? Max didn’t want to refer to the man as his camp counselor anymore, lest he gave him any more ideas.

For Max the last two days had been hell. David had made him _work_ , for fuck sakes. They’d gone shopping both days and of course had to carry everything back by hand since someone had apparently stolen David’s bike at the end of spring. Besides that they’d scrubbed the entire house, thankfully not with toothbrushes this time around, and done the laundry, leaving Max floored at the amount of clothes a single man in his twenties could own. Max’s job had been to hang up everything to dry on ropes strung between the trees around the back of the house. He’d had to use a stool of all things just to reach, and he was sure his own dignity hadn’t quite recovered.

Of course Max hadn’t been complacent in all of this, whinging and ripping into David over the smallest of things the entire time. Luckily for Max the house itself gave plenty of material for sarcastic comments.

The toilet flushed weird and the shower sprayed everywhere and he kept ramming his knee against the washing machine and there was this one floorboard that always knocked him off balance and he had to wash his hands in the kitchen sink like an _animal_ . At one point Max had gotten so fed up he’d willingly gone into the _woods_. He’d followed some trials, spotted some peppermint patches and wild berries and a couple of spots for campfires. He’d found a tree that was perfect for climbing and simply perched on the upper branches until David had worriedly come looking for him.

 

Turned out David could climb trees.

In hindsight that would have seemed obvious.

 

So his miniature hell continued. Might as well get another day over with.

Max hopped out of bed and grabbed his usual outfit, pulling his hoodie over the same yellow shirt he’d been living in. He also put on his best scowl before stepping into the common room and was greeted with David standing by the stove, grinning at him like a David.

“Come on Max, get your breakfast, I don’t want to be late!” David was even perkier than usual.

“Late to what?”

“Why work, of course!”

“Wait, you have an actual job?” Max ripped the plate from David’s hand and inhaled half the omelet in one go. If there was a singular good thing about staying with the man, it was the fact that he could actually make edible food.

“You sound very surprised by that.” David tilted his head to the side like the puppy that he was.

“Well, yeah, I just assumed you were some random hick that liked trees and people trusted enough to not molest the kids.”

“That’s very insulting, Max.” David looked genuinely hurt by that. “I’ll have you know, I have a pedagogy degree and I'm a student teacher right here in Sleepy Peak elementary, thank you very much.”

“Huh…” Max stared at him, trying to come up with a quip that wasn’t recycled before giving up and shoveling the rest of the omelet into his mouth. “So how long is this ‘work’ gonna take?”

“What do you mean?”

“Since you’ve established you're not going to let me exist on my own _at all_ how long am I going to have to suffer through a school I won't even be going to?”

“Well, it won't be much until the school year starts in earnest, so probably a few hours a day since I can write up my lesson plans from home. But a change of scenery will do you some good, Max, I know you're not very fond of my little home, and I completely understand. That and you're ten, it’s not like I can just leave you all by your lonesome while I go to work, what kind of adult would I be?”

“A normal one?”

David paused, staring at Max. He hadn’t even been snide with his answer.

That little ball of anxiety in David’s chest only grew.

“Ah…” David had to re-gather his thoughts. “I-in any case, we should get moving.”

“Joy…”

 

 

The school was even less impressive than Max had imagined. He made sure to point it out. Thoroughly.

David, however, was happy to be back as the dark red-brick building had accidentally grown into a huge part of his life. He’d been a counselor at Campbell from the summer he’d turned fifteen. And a SAR officer upstate after turning seventeen and graduating early, yet it was meeting the school’s old music teacher at the end of one fateful summer at nineteen that set him upon the path he was on today. What started out as simple guitar lessons after school spurred him into pursuing an educator’s degree, something he now owned and was incredibly proud of.

David was positively giddy thinking of everything he was going to do with his little students this school year.

 

Any other child would have probably been a little unnerved by the dimly lit hallways the two passed though, but Max was no ordinary child. That little fact still threw David off from time to time. They rounded a corner and saw a single door cracked open, light spilling into the corridor. David wasted no time stepping through into the warmly lit classroom, instantly spotting an older woman with pale, short hair wearing sweater far too thick for this weather.

 _“Hollie!”_ He called out opening his arms and going for a hug without a second’s hesitation.

“Oh! David!” The woman was far less startled than she had any right to be, popping up from the side of the desk by the front end of the room. She gladly accepted the sudden hug, squeezing the man right back, almost lifting him off the floor in the process.

“David, holy shit, I’ve been hearing rumors about what happened with Campbell. I kept telling you not to trust that old snake, ya dummy, look what happened!”

“Oh, I'm sure what you’ve been hearing is nowhere as bad as-”

“I heard the FBI got involved.”

“Okay so maybe it was that bad. But I'm perfectly fine!” He smiled. “…almost.” David ducked out of the hug and sidestepped the woman, looking over at Max who was peering through the doorway, uncertain what to do with himself.

“Max, come here. I want you to say hello to my boss and fellow teacher Elise Hollie.” He motioned for the boy to come closer and gently held onto his shoulders, as if presenting him to his colleague.

“Hollie, this is Max. He’s one of my campers and he’ll be staying with me for a little while.”

“Huh. How come, if you don’t mind me asking?” The old woman crossed her arms.

“It’s… complicated…”

“Fair enough.” Hollie leaned down to be level with the boy. “So how are you liking David, Max?”

“He is the spawn of Satan’s ballsack and I would rather set myself on fire and jump off a cliff than spend another day with him.” He deadpanned.

“Don’t you think jumping off a cliff would put you out?”

“Not if I used gasoline. I’ve seen that shit burn, its fucking effective-”

“MAX!” David interrupted. “Language, _please!_ ”

Hollie laughed while David was busy blushing and muttering apologies. She ruffled Max’s hair as she was standing up, making the boy swat at her hands, and then swat at David who was trying to ineffectually scold him.

“David, relax, it’s not like we haven’t heard kids swear before.”

David sputtered.

“W-well it’s still _no_ excuse to use such language, around people, or in school, or _anywhere for that matter!”_ He huffed, pouting. Meanwhile Hollie and Max exchanged a look of comradely, something that made Max just that little more at ease.

“In any case,” the woman waited for David to return his attention, “you're finally here so that means we can start some good ‘ol manual labor.”

“The fuck am I supposed to do then?” Max piqued up. The two adults exchanged a look.

“Well, since you’re too small to help us move the desks in place…” She covered her mouth with her hand. “How about I give you the master key to the lockers and you go check if there’s anything left inside from last year?”

“Can I keep the shit I find?”

“As long as it’s not electronics.”

“Deal.”

 

So armed with a flashlight and a master key the boy set off in search of urban treasures leaving the two adults to their work. After about an hour a huge bouncy ball looking like an eyeball came crashing into the room, followed soon after by a grinning Max. David couldn’t even open his mouth before the boy threw two full handfuls of bouncy balls at the two adults and ducked out the door.

After finding him hiding around the corner and snickering, David made Max pick up every last bouncy ball. Something that made the boy’s mood instantly flatline.  About an hour later it was time to head back. Hollie had disappeared somewhere deeper in the school so David couldn’t say goodbye before leaving.

 

The two were a third of the way home when it started pouring.

David wasted no time picking up Max and stuffing the boy under his vest and carrying him the entire way back with surprisingly little protest. There was something satisfying about slamming the door closed as they stepped inside David’s home, leaving the rain behind them and being greeted by warmth. It didn’t last long since the two were soaked to the bone and started leaving puddles where they stood.

David ushered Max into the bathroom and ran to change into something dry in his own room. His dry outfit turned out to be his ‘hobo clothes’, meanwhile Max was standing around wrapped up in a big towel, soggy garments in a pile in front of him. It was at that point David learned the boy didn’t really have any spare clothes besides an extra pair of socks and a hoodie identical to the wet one on the floor.

That, of course, wasn’t going to do. So soon enough Max was wearing one of David’s shirts that had grown too small for the man. A yellow thing with a big comically smiling bee on the front, big enough to look like a short dress, but not oversized enough to be mistaken for a colorful potato-sack. Max, as expected, was not very pleased. He however didn’t seem to mind David’s fuzzy blue socks with stars on them since he kept absentmindedly patting them.

After toweling down Max’s hair and making sure he wasn’t going to get a cold, David suggested making dinner. Before Max could realize what was happening he was dragged into meal prep. In this case grating carrots for what David had decided was going to lasagna. The two settled into silence, sans David giving ocasional instructions.

The man delegated enough work to Max to keep him busy while David himself did a lot of the extra menial prep. While the pasta was boiling he helped Max cook the meat and carrots, holding his hand over Max’s steadying the boy’s grip on the handle as the two clumsily slid the vegetables back and forth in the pan.

He even let Max layer the lasagna in the tray. It wasn’t very even but it seemed as if Max might’ve been enjoying himself for once so David simply kept his mouth shut while he mulled over something he’d been keeping in the back of his head for most of the day.

 

With the concoction in the oven the two could relax. David did some quick cleanup so the dishes wouldn’t get crusty while Max lounged around on the one ratty couch they had, after failing miserably to locate the TV remote.

“Eugh, why do my fingers smell deliciously disgusting?” Max muttered to no one in particular. “Oh wait, it's onions…”

“Listen, Max…” David cautiously approached the boy after pulling something out from one of the boxes around the house and hiding it behind his back. “I wasn’t going to bring this up at first, but you really pushed my hand today.”

He help up a large glass jar with some paper taped to the side and loudly placed it down on the small coffee table between the two, making Max flinch from the sudden noise.

“This is a swear jar. I’m assuming you are quite familiar with the concept.”

Max looked at the jar and then up at David.

“So you’re extorting me?”

“Wha-NO! No.” David backpedaled. “For every bad swear I’ll put a little piece of paper with a plus sign in here. Then after a while we’ll see how much you’ve collected and then I’ll figure out how to best punish you. I'm thinking dishes and helping me clean, should be sufficient.”

“Holey-moley I'm trembling in my fucking pants over here.” Max rolled his eyes. “It’s not as if you’re already making me do menial labor.”

David only gave him a stern, pouty look.

“You were very awful at work today, you know. And I’ve been very lenient with you, but I too, have to draw a line, and that line is here, especially after how you acted in front of Hollie.”

“I don’t know if we’re talking about the same ‘Hollie’ here, David, because as far as I'm aware she didn’t give a single shit about it.”

David’s face turned a little red.

“Max, this is my home, so my rules, got that, mister?”

“Well golly fucking gee David, I guess I’ll just go find a bridge to live under then.” Max stood up on the cushions, waving his arms like an inflatable tube man.

“There's no bridges in the area…” the man muttered.

“Whelp, guess a ditch will do, then.” Max crossed his arms, staring down David.

“Max…” That pleading tone was back in David’s voice. Their eyes didn’t meet and David continued fidgeting with his fingers.

 

“Oh fucking, fine. It’s not like I can stop you.” Max gave in after a long bout of silence, falling back into the pillows stacked atop the couch content to ignore whatever else the man might’ve said. He shifted about before reaching under one of the cushions and yanked out the remote. David, meanwhile, was busy scribbling little pluses for the jar, trying to recall just how many f-words Max dropped in the last conversation alone.

They didn’t speak much after that.

It took one episode of CSI before the lasagna was ready. David changed channels while Max was occupied and the two spent the rest of the evening watching a documentary about sea turtles while munching their concoction. David found it extra delectable, probably because it’d been so long since he had lasagna, but he chose to believe it was Max’s help that elevated it up the delicious scale.

Eventually the credits rolled and David had to wipe a little mistiness from his eye. Thankfully that brave turtle had gone and returned to the waters safely to live another day or a decade. David was about to ask Max what he thought of the film but caught himself when he realized the boy had fallen asleep, his head resting heavily on David’s thigh.

He sat frozen for several minutes, watching the steady rise and fall of the boy’s chest before slowly inching his hands under Max and gently lifting him into something of a bridal carry. He waited a few seconds in case Max woke up and started yelling at him, but thankfully all he did was slightly curl into himself.

With soft steps David inched his way to Max’s room, careful to avoid all the parts of the floor he knew would make a noise. The boy’s bed was, of course, un-made, but for once David was glad as it was simpler to ease the boy under the covers. He carefully tucked him in, but not too tight since he knew how much Max had a habit of twisting around in his sleep.

David stepped back outside, lingering in the doorway for a moment, the light from the common room faintly illuminating the boy’s face. Max looked angry even as he slept.

 

David closed the door behind him.

 

 


	5. The Forever Trio

 

The automatic doors to the grocery store were a bit slow on the uptake. It had never bothered David much and he had learned to pace his steps accordingly, between where the sensor picked up movement to the point of how long it took for the door to actually open so he wouldn’t have to break stride. Max didn’t have such a skill. So he, of course, nearly ran right into the glass.

“Fucken’ door.” The boy swore under his breath, preoccupied trying to tear into his ice-cream wrapper. David was going to let this one slide from the Swear Jar. They stepped outside and were greeted by a warm wind, the last vestiges of summer beginning to give way to the encroaching fall.

 _“AHA!”_ Max finally managed to free his icy treat from its plastic prison, wasting to time sticking it in his mouth. It was something David had never seen before, a kitschy electric blue _thing_ that made it hard to look at, coated in similarly neon yellow and red sprinkles. It was also incredibly expensive for ice-cream especially as small as it was comparatively, but darn it, if it made Max just that extra bit more happy David didn’t mind.

He himself was perfectly happy with his regular chocolate cone.

If it hadn’t been for their treats and the bag in his hand David would have been holding onto Max. Mostly as reassurance. Sure the boy was ten and very intelligent, but cars were cars and Max had a habit of jolting all over the place if something piqued his interest enough. On top of that both of them were if not a little distracted by ice cream, but David tried his hardest to keep tabs on the boy as he fake-balanced his way along the curb a few paces ahead.

Of course this lead to David nearly tripping himself, stumbling forward to come beside Max who had stopped, looking across the street to a dead-end of a road that had been repurposed as a parking lot for a few cars, hidden  in the shade of the adjacent building.

“Hey, isn’t that the camp car?” Max motioned with what little there was still left of his ice-cream. His entire mouth and lips were dyed a bright blue.

“Oh! That must be Gwen!” David cheerfully replied once he recognized the vehicle, stuffing the last remnants of waffle in his mouth. The license plate was different though. So many questions. “She must have gotten a job nearby! Good for her.”

He turned and Max was gone.

_“??!!!!”_

When his heart was done skipping a beat or twelve David spotted the boy already across the street, before bolting after him, nearly getting hit in the process, shouting ‘sorry’ over his shoulder as he made it the rest of the way to the car where Max was busy sticking the ice cream wrapper under the windshield wipers.

“MAX!” David’s voice cracked. _“Look both ways before crossing the street!_ And that wasn’t a crosswalk! And wh-… what are you doing…?”

“Taunting Gwen with ice cream she can't afford.”

“That’s… Not very nice.”

“No shit, David.” Max rolled his eyes. He idly tapped his fingers against the side of the dinged up car as he walked the length of it, trying to catch a look inside, but with the glare of the sun it was bit more difficult than it should’ve been. “Guess I'm not the only one who couldn’t manage to get out of this dump.”

David was halfway through mentally constructing a lecture involving at least three distinct topics when out of the blue a face popped up against the inside of backseat window making David jump and screech loud enough to shatter glass while Max casually leaned back with a blank look.

 _“David?”_ Gwen’s voice was muffled but her face read clear horror, confusion and a twinge of embarrassment. Whilst David tried his best to not have a heart attack she threw aside a blanket and reached over the center console and partly into the driver’s seat, unlatching the doors and clumsily pushing the driver’s open so they could hear one another clearly.

“Jesus, David, what the fuck are you doing here?” She rubbed her face and her bloodshot eyes, her tangled mess of hair sticking upwards in places. Her cheek had a red mark on from laying on something rigid.

“Frankly, we should be the ones asking that question.” Max raised an eyebrow. “Also were you sleeping in there?”

Gwen didn’t reply for longer than a pause like that should’ve lasted, her eyes nervously darting to the sides. “Maybe. Why is your mouth blue?”

Now it was Max’s turn to pause.

“Goodness Gwen, are you alright,” David still sounded a little spooked, “you look terrible, and I mean not like terrible-terrible I meant like you haven’t, actually- I won't finish that sentence- actually this entire train of thought is a disaster, maybe I should’ve worded myself differently, you don’t look terrible it just that you look like-

“Like I've been sleeping in my car for the last week?” the woman offered while wiggling into a less awkward, actual seated, cross-legged position behind the wheel. She was wearing tiny shorts and her counselor’s shirt, but it looked grimy. “Because I have. Maybe longer than that. What day is it?”

 “Uh-eugh, when was the last time you showered?” Max dramatically pinched his nose shut, earning a death-glare from David.

Gwen had to take a moment to think about it. “Camp.”

“That was over a week ago.”

“Yeah…” She exhaled, hanging her head. “It hasn’t been great.”

 “Gwen…” David spoke softly, moving closer, leaning down to be eye level with her. “Do you not have any place to stay?” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Cuz, I fuken’ figured I could get my life in line by the time summer ended but guess what, you can't really live great with a part-time, night-shift salary, who woulda’ thunk it!” She gestured sharply with her hands, only to smack them hard into the car’s frame making her inhale sharply from pain. “I’ve been living off of gas station hotdogs for what feel like years. At least employees get them free, even if it takes a while to get used to the taste of dishrag and fake-meat flavored cardboard.”

David let out a pained squeak, his eyes growing a bit shiny. He inhaled.

“You are coming back home with both of us. I’ll make you a nice meal and I’ll let you use my washing machine and you can take a proper nap on the couch and I am _not_ taking ‘no’ for an answer, got that?”

Gwen stared at him blankly.

 

“Okay.”

“I sai- wait, wha-”

“Fuck’ sakes, David, I'm at a point where I was considering begging on the street corner, I'm not gonna say no, especially to you.” She gave him a weak smile and the man beamed back in turn. Gwen let out a tired sigh and stepped out of the car, her bare feet touching pavement.

“Gah, that’s cold~” She muttered under her breath before opening the back door and using her foot to shove her bedding to the other side of the backseat before gesturing at Max to get in. He promptly refused. Then the two adults glared at him. No budging. Then Gwen threatened to throw him and the ever so faintly deranged look in her eye told Max she wasn’t joking.

 

Gwen didn’t even bother putting on shoes to drive, which was a little concerning for David but he trusted her enough to not say anything.

“I'm going to assume you stole the car.” Max piqued up halfway back.

“It’s _my_ car, you little shit, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” Gwen flatly replied, half listening to David’s directions. “It’s the only fucking thing I own besides my underwear.”

“Ew.”

“And if you _must_ know, you nosy little bastard, Campbell promised he’d get me new tires and a gearbox replacement if I let the camp use it over the summer.” She tapped the steering wheel. “He threw in new headlights if I didn’t tell anyone. Ninety-nine percent sure it’s all… _‘illicitly acquired’_ as they say, but the car works so I don’t give a fuck.”

That got Max to can it. David pointed out his house in the distance.

“How’s the roomie situation panning out for you by the way?” Gwen glanced at David sitting beside her, who suddenly seemed very nervous.

“Not great. But I'm working on it… Okay, I'm not, but that’s because I’ve been a bit busy at work.”

“Kinda shows how little I know you, but you actually have a job? Like a proper, nine-to-five kinda job? You, mister trees-man?” There was a hint of disbelief in her voice.

“What do you think I do for the rest of the year?”

“I dunno. Hibernate?”

That got David to laugh proper, making Gwen crack a smile in turn.

 They parked by the curb and David helped Gwen carry in her backpack of dirty clothes and a couple bits of her more valuable possessions, just in case. While everything got situated and Gwen took a shower David whipped up some spaghetti bolognese’ and Max laid face-down on the couch whining about being bored. When David of all people pointed out he should watch some TV Max retorted that the only thing on was a shitty spanish soap opera and he wasn’t going to suffer through it.

After a good twenty minutes the door to the bathroom opened and a cloud of steam rolled out into the living room. Gwen actually looked _happy_ of all things, her hair wrapped up in a towel and she was sporting another of David’s shirts because all of hers were in the wash and the man had a never-ending supply for some ungodly reason.

“Feeling better?” David asked, scooping their lunch onto plates.

“Holy shit, yes.” Gwen replied while poking a dead-looking Max sprawled all over the couch trying to get him to move.

“I don’t mean to chastise you or anything, Gwen, but you could have always come to me for help. I did offer.”

“Listen, when you think you can make it on your own…” she trailed off.

“True. Though I suppose that doesn’t really matter anymore.” David smiled, pulling the smaller table close to the couch and set the three plates of fresh, steaming food atop it. “What matters is that you can stay with Max and I as long as you need. We won't mind the company.”

“Yes we will!” Max snapped up from his imitation of someone being bored into the shadow realm.

Gwen shoved him to the far side of the couch, leaving enough room for David to squeeze himself onto the cushions beside them. There was a brief pause while David was doing his twitchy-hands thing again, just on the cusp of saying something. Without another warning he glomped Gwen pulling her into a hug, inadvertently startling her.

“This is going to be great, I can just feel it!” Gwen couldn’t help but let out her usual groan of annoyance while David smooshed their cheeks together. “It’ll seem fun like camp in no time, just you wait!”

 

Horror slowly but surely seeped down Gwen’s spine.

“Is the regret setting in?” Max leaned in.

Gwen side-eyed David who was in hug-bliss.

“Not yet.”

“It will.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

 


	6. Gwen-day

 

 **“Fuck yeah!** _KAMEHAME HIS BITCH-ASS, TWILIGHT!_ ”

Gwen awoke with a jolt. Before she could understand what was going on or what planet she was on she heard Max’s maniacal little giggling and the sound of anime noises from what she took a wild guess was the TV.

 _“C’mon don’t stand around, fucking MOVE!”_ The boy continued yelling and Gwen was still trying to figure out why she couldn’t see shit. Trying to rub her eyes proved effective once she realized someone has tried to smother her with a pillow that was quickly removed, only to be replaced with the regret of sunlight.

She blearily looked around and spotted Max standing between the couch she was on and the TV, visibly vibrating from excitement. On the screen a purple horse was in the process of shooting lasers at a centaur-looking thing.

Gwen rubbed her eyes again.

_“What are you doing you dumb bitch, you can take him!”_

She forced herself into a sitting position to stop from drifting between the void of sleep and the now.

_“NO! Don’t you dare give him your magic, you IDIOT!”_

The screen showed similar little horses in bubbles and Gwen considered if she was in the middle of a half-baked hallucination. She hunched forward, burying her face in her hands and slipped between stages of awakeness for several minutes, faintly aware of Max’s running commentary of whatever the hell was on TV.

Finally she managed to force herself into a state of being a semi-functional human being, shoving away the blanket and unsteadily standing up and stretching.

“Max, what the fresh fuck are you watching?” Gwen asked. There were rainbows on the screen.

“Fuck off.” The boy waved her off.

“Not an answer.”

“Fuck _OFF_ I'm trying to watch.” He hissed, though the effect was lessened by the fact that he was wearing a bright yellow shirt with a bee on it, big enough on him to be mistaken for a dress.

Gwen shrugged and sauntered across the tiny house to the kitchen. She spotted an empty plate and a note next to it. It was David’s unmistakable frilly handwriting informing his two housemates that he’d made breakfast pancakes and there was enough for the two to share, followed by four different kinds of smiley faces and a ‘ps’ that he was at work. Gwen stared at the vacant plate.

“Hey dispshit, what happened to the pancakes?” Gwen loudly asked.

“I ate them.”

“… All of them?”

“Yeah?” Max finally turned to address Gwen directly as the credits rolled across the TV screen. “Thanks for ruining the end of the episode by the way.”

“Yeah well thanks for ruining my one chance at a full night’s sleep.” Gwen spat back. She tossed David’s note and went to rummage in the near-empty fridge. Luckily for her she found a huge cup of cherry yogurt she wasted no time shoving in her gullet. “By the way, I'm still under orders to maintain the Swear Jar, so expect a few extra pluses for being a horrible, little, pancake-gobbling fuck.”

“Remind me again, why _I'm_ subjected to the Jar bullshit and you ain’t?” The boy crossed his arms.

“Prolly cuz’ I'm a guest.”

“So am I!” Max shouted.

“Eh, at this point you’re more like a resident-guest.”

“Eat a dick, Gwen.”

“No thanks.” She had already checked out of the conversation. Yogurt in one hand and pencil in the other she quickly scribbled a row of plusses on scrap of paper and threw in the Jar atop the fridge. David had ‘upgraded’ it over the last week as it was now covered in construction paper and glitter. Because of course.

“So did David leave you with a To-Do list, or?” Gwen inquired, keeping to herself the fact that the last thing she wanted to do on her one day off was babysit someone she’d grown sick of sixty times over.

“Even if he had, why would I ever incriminate myself?”

“That’s fair.” Gwen muttered. “But knowing David, surely there's some bullshit activity he’s left for us, so cough it up.”

“Again, see my previous statement.” Max clambered atop the couch, throwing Gwen’s blanket over the back and settling himself right in the middle.

“Did you even see him today?”

“Fuck no, I was asleep.” Max replied and Gwen did a nuclear facepalm.  The boy wiggled his feet, obviously mulling something over before snorting and holding out his hand towards the woman. “Gimme your phone.”

Gwen had to pause.

“You’ve been trying your hardest to steal our phones all week.”

“So?”

“What ‘so’? I don’t get what you could even want with em’ so bad?” Max didn’t reply. “Are you going to look at boobs again?”

“…no.”

“Then what on earth-”

**_“Just give me your fucking phone or I will fucking ruin you!”_ **

 Gwen gave him a flat look, sticking another spoonful of yogurt in her mouth.

“Okay.” She nonchalantly replied, shrugging. She took a second to enjoy the confusion on Max’s face before she walked back to the couch, picking up her pillow and tossing it in the boy’s face before she stuck her hand under the cushions. By the time Max had regained enough of his bearings and thrown the pillow right back at Gwen he was greeted by Gwen casually tossing the device at the boy. The confusion only spiked as he turned around the small, faceless red rectangle in his hands while Gwen sat down beside him.

“The fuck is this?” Max stuck it out at her.

“My phone.” Gwen channeled all the smugness in her soul for that singular answer.

“Very funny. It doesn’t even have a screen.” Max tapped the device’s sides. “And it’s tiny, and plastic-y, and weird.”

“I know I'm poking fun at you, but this just makes me feel old…” Gwen sighed. She grabbed the device from Max and proceeded to flip the phone open and hand it back.

“Oh.” There was a hint of recognition there. “Why the fuck do you have a flip phone?”

“Do I look like I can afford a smartphone?”

“I think my dad had one like this when I was little.” Max muttered. It took a bit until he figured how to use the buttons, poking through Gwen’s empty messages and three whole contacts of _‘David’ ‘cunt’_ and _‘brah2’_ before checking out her tetris app and giving up after two seconds and throwing it back at Gwen, who barely caught it with one hand.

“Well that was useless.” Max sounded defeated, running his hand through his uncombed hair and sinking into the couch.

“If you actually told people what you needed, it would probably make this entire charade much easier.” Gwen poked him in the side with her spoon, making the boy glare at her. “So spit it, I'm not David, I'm not gonna’ wait the entire day just to get you to say something.”

He looked at her and then he looked at nothing and then he looked at his star-patterned socks.

“I wanna check my email okay?” He’d turned down his volume. “Neither of you losers have a computer so I've been trying to work with what I have.”

 _“You_ have an email?” Gwen raised an eyebrow.

“Oh course I have a fucking email I'm not a caveman!” Max snapped at her.

“…ya’know Max…” Gwen spoke up when she realized she wasn’t going to get anywhere else with the boy. “There’s a library downtown.”

He glanced at her while she let the sentence hang.

“Wanna’ drive there?” She asked, the faintest hint of softness in her voice. Max looked away and made a vaguely committing noise. Gwen rolled her eyes.

 

 

      _…so make sure you invite me to your new mom’s wedding yeah? ill give a golddigger three months before theyre hitched lol_  
_but seriously gimme nikkis new email if she even has one.. what am i saying shes not that much of a fucking neanderthal. and like say hi from me or whatever when you see her or else shell be crying in corner or smtn idk_  
_anyway yeah like i said life is regular nothing shit as usual so if theres literally anything worthwhile write me before i kill myself in fkn boredom. so like read you later and shit and bye_

 _ps my internet situation is shit so dont get pissy if i dont respond  
_ _pps minemaster05xx fucking really could you have picked a less gay email? u disappoint me neil_

Gwen caught the tail end of Max’s message before he hit send. There was a minuscule spark of genuine, saccharine delight in the cold depths of her heart over the fact that Max of all people was bothering to stay in touch with his summer friends. It was quickly replaced by her usual distaste of the universe as whole when Max hurridly closed the window before snapping around and glaring at her.

“The fuck you looking at?”

“I could have sworn I saw a normal child sitting where you are, but nope, it’s just a sack of shit.” Gwen deadpanned, slamming a large stack of miscellaneous books next to the keyboard, making Max flinch back.

“Oh Gwen, you shouldn’t be staring at mirrors.” Max replied, eyeing the heap of literature. “What the hell is this?”

“Have you ever read Harry Potter?” Gwen asked.

“Fuck no, that shit’s for babies.”

“Perfect, cuz I checked out the first three books for you.”

 _“Whyyyy?”_ Max let out an exasperated whine. Gwen let out a mocking whine in turn making the boy shut up in a second.

 _“Because I'm tired of hearing you complain about boredom!”_ she snapped. “So if you're not going to do anything about it I will! So you’re reading Harry Potter and you're gonna like it!”

Max gave her a concerned look.

“Also your internet time is almost up, so log off and let’s go, it’s getting late.”

“It’s not _that_ late.”

“I don’t care.”

Max gave an annoyed puff but did as told. Gwen made him carry half the books back to her car. It took half a minute a lot of creative swearing until she got it to turn on. She let out gleeful little giggle when she heard something familiar on the radio and turned it up far louder than one should, doing a little dance in her seat to the music.

 _“‘Chainsmokers’?_ Really?” Max remarked.

“The fact that you recognize them, doesn’t help you case.” Gwen smirked in turn. For a spit second Max turned ever so slightly red.

It was getting late so on a whim the woman decided to swing past David’s school. It wasn’t much a detour on the way to the house anyway and as she passed she saw a familiar figure a ways up the street. She cut the music and rolled down her window, ever so slowly inching her car along the sidewalk closer to David.

And honked, making the man jump out of his skin, screaming.

  _“Get in loser!”_ She shouted, her elbow poking through the open window. Max had his usual sadistic little grin on. David let out a nervous little giggle when he regained his bearings and hopped in beside her, his bag in his lap.

“Goodness Gwen, you sure got me.” He still looked a bit shook. “What are you doing here? You didn’t come around just to pick me up, did you?”

“Nah. We were in town so I figured we’d swing by. Lucky you, right?” The woman offhandedly replied, more focused on driving.

“Heh, very. I’ll have a bit more time to get ready.”

“Ready for what?” That caught Gwen’s attention.

“Oh right, I guess you don’t know.” David sheepishly ran his hand through his hair. “See, the teachers have a little get-together every year before school starts. A sort of catch-up in a way. I get the feeling it’ll be more of an interrogation considering everything that’s happened in the last month.”

David picked at the frayed edge of his bag, the silence growing more noticeable by the moment. He turned to peer into the backseat at Max who was busy pawing through a book.

“And what did you get up to today, Max?” David asked, forcing the boy to look up in annoyance.

“Same shit I do every day, David. Fucking nothing.”

“Oh don’t be like that Max. I see you got some books for yourselves.”

“Under duress.” Max grumbled, turning the page. “Can I go your party?”

“I… I don’t think it’s a good idea, Max.” David scrunched up his face. “Not that I wouldn’t be delighted to have you around, but it’s not really something meant for kids.”

“You're making it sound like you’ll be railing each other all night.” Gwen piqued up.

“Guh-wh- _NO!_ ” David turned bright red in a second. “I-I-I meant alcohol! A-and conversations about lesson plans! And the arts budget! _And casserole!_ ”

“Casserole?” Max muttered.

“I was joking, David.” Gwen felt like clarifying.

“I-I-I mean, _you_ , Gwen, you’d be free to j-join if you’d want,” David sputtered out half a sentence, determined to move the conversation away as fast as possible, “but we’d need to take Max with, or I guess I could call Annie, she can look after him for a few hours tops, or maybe-”

“Yeah, how about no.” Gwen cut him off. “I appreciate the offer but it sounds legit terrible, so you go enjoy your slow descent into a midlife-crisis and I’ll be home reading Fifty Shades of Grey.”

“Fifty shades of what?”

“Oh look at that we’re here. Get out of my car.” Gwen cut him off again, parking and killing the engine. She proceeded to shut down any further inquiry, though she let David carry the books inside for her. David ran to get ready for his party while Gwen haphazardly threw together a meal of eggs and frozen bacon, munching it silently alongside Max, leaving just enough for David when he came out of his room in his usual jeans and a white button up.

The world outside grew darker by the minute. Max tucked himself in a corner with a book while the two adults chitchatted about meaninglessness. David turned down Gwen’s offer to drive him to the host’s house before he grabbed his flannel vest, bid an unrequited goodbye to Max and left.

Gwen scarfed down everything that was left over from their impromptu meal before throwing herself into the couch, a miscellaneous fantasy novel in hand. A good while passed after that, interrupted only once by Max grabbing a drink. Yet there was an uneasiness growing in the air. It was in the way Gwen turned the pages and how she tapped her nails against the back of the cover, how she heavily exhaled or how she constantly shifted how she sat until everything suddenly boiled over.

Gwen slammed the book shut loud enough to make Max raise his eyebrow at her.

“Christ, I should’ve gone to the fucking party…” she breathed.

“So is the suicide-inducing boredom finally catching up to you?” Gwen’s response was a pathetic groan as she rubbed her face with both hands. “In which case, welcome to my world. Reruns of CSI and afternoon cartoons are the best entertainment you’ll get. And tormenting David isn’t the same fun either. I guess the books technically help but not by much.” Max stretched. “If we had _internet_ it might be bearable but David is too fucking cheap for any of that shit. And knowing him he’d murder everything with parental controls anyway.”

“What is my fucking life, when hardcover smut can't even bring joy anymore?” Gwen asked the universe, offhandedly tossing her book over the side of the couch.

“Ew.”

“What the fuck am I even _doing?_ ” She thumped her knuckles against her forehead. “What is my life, why am I here, why _the fuck am I babysitting_ **_you_ ** _out all people on the fucking planet?!_ ”

Max shrugged.

“ _Ugh_ , I have a _fucking degree_ why am I here?” She raised her voice kneading her face and rubbing her eyes hard enough to hurt. “Summer. I was supposed to leave this nowhere forever after summer was over, what _happened to me?!”_ Her breathing grew more erratic.

 _“ARG_ FUCK THIS!” She yelled, leaping to her feat, kicking the table leg in front of her. She vaulted the couch and kicked over her boots that were neatly placed beside the front door before angrily picking them up and shoving them onto her feet.

“Uh, Gwen?” Max cautiously asked, ditching what he was doing and inching nearer the fuming woman. “Where exactly do you think you're going?”

“ **Out.** ” She growled, shoving around David’s shoes until she found her car keys where she’d dropped them.

“Excuse me?” Max pressed, following her outside into the cool night air without hesitation. The car gave a soft beep when Gwen unlocked it, throwing open the driver’s side door. Not knowing what else to do Max jumped into the passenger’s seat.

“Out, away, gtfo, _I don’t know alright?_ ” Gwen shoved her keys into the ignition and turned, the car rattling to life. “Whenever everything starts feeling wrong, whenever my head goes to weird places I go as far as I can, away in the silence, far from anything in the world,” Her fingers dug into the steering wheel, lights on, throw it in reverse, the motor roared, “and _fuck me_ is this entire fucking town as far away from any semblance of civilization as it can fucking _get._ ”

Switch gears, pedal to the metal, the street was dark sans the headlights, lights flickered in the neighbors’ houses, so content, so peaceful. Max made sure to buckle in.

 

 

“Wait so that’s it? You just drive?”

Minutes had passed. Gwen was breathing normally again. Eyes on the road, direction unknown. There weren’t many road signs. Max prodded.

“What's the fucking point?”

“Moving.” Gwen muttered. “Moving when everything gets stuck.”

“Well at least I know why you're always out of money if you keep wasting it like this.” Max remarked.

“Nah, my boss taught me how to cheat the pumps. Corporate won't notice a few stray gallons.” A shred of emotion returned to her voice. Max fell silent. He was too short to ride shotgun, not that he minded.

Evergreens zoomed past the windows, briefly illuminated by their passing, only to get shrouded in darkness once more. The world was pitch black, faint traces of skyline peeking through the gaps in the trees.

The forest thinned and they slowed near a wider stretch of road. Beside them, the edge of a dip in the land, the treetops below barely level with the road they were on. Lake Lilac shimmered in the distance without a single trace of light, the campgrounds framing it long empty. Gwen yanked the handbrake, threw on the hazards and killed everything else, stepping outside.

“Tell me it’s not worth looking at.” It was addressed to Max. The boy reluctantly left the car and into the cold of night. He was only in a t-shirt after all. Though that quickly became a non-issue.

Stars.

The sky was a deep, all-encompassing darkness, tinted with every shade of blue and green. Every last inch was doused in fragments of twinkling light, tiny dots filing the heavens above making it reminiscent of static. And in the midst of it all streaking across the sky of fuzzy purples and pinks the Milky Way seemingly split everything above in half.

 

Max didn’t even realize his jaw was wide open. Gwen leaned against the hood of her car.

“There weren’t any lights where I lived.”

Max tore his eyes away from the sky to look at the woman, her head tilted back and uncombed hair falling across her shoulders. He clumsily clambered up beside her and sat down, returning his gaze to the stars above.

“So I’d sneak out every night after bedtime and just lay on the ground half a mile from home, watching the Milky Way move. It was the best fucking thing of too many fucking days.”

“When I was really little there were three stars.” Max spoke softly. “I mean, I know there are more, I'm not retarded, but back then I thought it was just those. I remember the orange gloom through the cracked window and how I’d count them every night. I don’t even remember if it was here or whatever hell pit we came from…”

“Max…” she didn’t even know where to start her thought.

“Not like it fucking matters anyway. Not like anything ever matters.” He pulled his knees to his chest. For warmth, he told himself. “If I were you I’d ditch this shithole the first chance I’d get. There's better places in the world, but I'm stuck here until David finds out where to dump me permanently. You still got every chance to go anywhere and do anything and even if you flop like the useless sack of shit that you are you’ll always have your precious parent’s basement to fall back into.”

 “I… _can't…_ ” There was ice in her voice. “I **_burned_ ** every bridge I ever had when I left.” Her hands balled into fists. “And if I have to come crawling back to that life… then I’d much rather spend the rest of eternity sleeping in the back of my car because at least there’s worth there…”

She glared at Max.

“So don’t think you’re the only one stuck here, you little shit. The world is bigger than you, and it’s far worse than you think.”

 They stared each other down, deep purple meeting turquoise.

 “If you breathe a word to David, I will fucking end you.” Max growled.

“I won't tell if you won't.” Gwen broke eye contact and stared vacantly ahead. “I already get enough of his pity.”

Max let out a soft ‘hmph’ and they watched the universe move above.

 

 

 _“Gwen!”_ David shot up from the couch, both his and Gwen’s phone in hand, only to get instantly shushed by the woman coming through the front door. She gently pushed it closed, careful to not make a sound.

David’s palm quickly went over his mouth as an extra measure of silence the moment he noticed Max curled up in a tiny ball in Gwen’s arms. He hopped in place, randomly gesturing with his hands until he found enough sense in himself and zoomed past Gwen, opening the door to what had been deemed Max’s bedroom and motioned for the woman. Gwen simply rolled her eyes, brushing past him and dumping Max into the bed. David was instantly beside her and she let him take over the entire tucking-in-the-sleeping-child deal.

She was in the process of getting her second glass of water from the kitchen faucet when David slipped out of the bedroom and made a beeline for her, hooking his hand over her shoulder and pushing himself far too deep into her personal space and whispering.

_“Gwen, what happened where were you, I was so worried, you left your phone here and Max was gone and the car was gone and you didn’t leave a note and didn’t say anything about going anywhere and I didn’t want to assume anything but it was getting late and not that I don’t trust you or anything but I was just starting to worry something bad might’ve happened since it’s so dark out and neither of you are from here, not that I'm from here but I know the woods, and you wouldn’t have any way to call anyone if something went wrong that that anything would go wrong but you can never know and I-”_

Gwen shoved her hand over David’s mouth.

 _“Chill.”_ She furrowed her brows. “We went for a walk. Granted it was a walk with the car, but a walk nonetheless.”

“Wh-” David managed to free himself from her grasp. “With Max? How? What happened? Was something wrong? Did he say anything?”

Gwen paused, looking away for a split-second.

“No. We just talked about how boring this stupid town is. He’s good to bitch with.” It wasn’t _entirely_ a lie. Even so, there was something in the way David looked at her. Like he knew she was lying.

“Please,” The man exhaled, hanging his head. “Please don’t make me worry like this. A little note next time, alright?”

“Okay, David.” Gwen yawned. “Can we like…” She vaguely motioned towards the couch. “Cuz’ I got a shift earlier than usual and…”

“O-of course.” He pulled back, giving Gwen her space back. “I’ll just… see you tomorrow.” He lamely whispered, slinking towards his bedroom leaving Gwen standing alone in the kitchenette with half a glass of water in hand.

She sighed.

“Goddamnit, you two…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> march/18 note: I kinda lost steam for this when I lost some drafts for future chapters among other things, but i'll come back to the story when season three airs so dont worry!


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